Published on:

by

Preliminary statistics by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration  show a drop in the number of people killed nationwide in auto accidents during the first 6 months of 2024.  This is the 9th consecutive quarterly drop in car accident fatality numbers. It is important to better understand why this drop in auto accident wrongful deaths occurred and to continue to work to improve the numbers.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently released encouraging news in the form of car accident data for the first half of 2024. The statistics show that there was a 3% drop in the number of  auto accident fatalities during the first 6 months of 2024, compared to the same period of time in 2023.  The data reveals that there were 18,720 deaths in car accidents between January and July of 2024.  This was a drop from the 19,330 deaths that were recorded during the first 6 months of 2023.

This drop came even as there was a slight increase in the number of vehicle miles traveled by Americans in the first half of 2024, compared to the same period of time last year.  This year, Americans traveled approximately 0. 8% higher number of vehicle miles or 13.1 billion extra miles, compared to the same period of time in 2023.  Overall, 32 states recorded a drop in auto accident deaths during the first half of 2024.  This included the state of Georgia which recorded 696 deaths in car accidents during the first six months of 2024, in comparison with 762 deaths during the same period of time last year.

Continue reading
Published on:

by

Uninsured or under-insured patients, who have suffered spinal cord injuries due to auto accident or other traumatic events, may be much more likely to be taken off life support.

A  recent study measured the impact of insurance coverage on the survival and recovery of persons after a spinal cord injury. The study focused on more than 8,400 American adults who had suffered a spinal cord injury, and found that uninsured or under-insured patients were much more likely to be taken off life support much earlier than those with insurance.

Spinal cord injuries are often caused in auto accidents, trucking accidents and  motorcycle accidents. These are not just devastating personal injuries with long-term consequences, but are also extremely expensive personal injuries to treat.  The costs involved in treating spinal cord injuries can range between $95,000 to well above $1,000,000,  depending on the complexity or level of the injury.  Spinal cord injuries very often can result in paralysis, which in turn, can lead to a number of other effects on a person’s health.

Continue reading
Published on:

by

A  new bill that is expected to be introduced soon would require federal standards for the heights of SUVs and pick-up trucks to also consider pedestrian safety. This is an extremely important change which is likely to save lives in auto accidents involving pedestrians and bicycles.

According to Representative Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pennsylvania),  who is introducing the new bill, while there is much that is currently being done to protect occupants inside the vehicle, there is much more that can also be done in order to protect vulnerable users like pedestrians and bicyclists who are outside the vehicle when auto accidents occur.

The popularity of pick-up trucks and SUVs has skyrocketed in the past few decades, and these are some of the most in-demand automobiles on the American roads.  Unfortunately, while these are very popular vehicles, their  presence on our roads also pose a serious danger to motorists,  pedestrians and bicyclists.  Their large sizes and bulk makes it much more likely that occupants of smaller vehicles will suffer serious personal injuries or wrongful deaths when they are involved in an auto accident with these large SUVs and trucks.  There is immense danger to pedestrians  and other vulnerable users like bicyclists who are involved in auto accidents with these vehicles.

Continue reading
Published on:

by

Senior citizens who drink alcohol have a much higher risk of experiencing brain bleeds after suffering a slip and fall. Increasing awareness among Senior Citizens is the key to preventing these slip and falls which often cause serious personal injuries.

According to a new study, even seniors who drink moderately may be at a much higher risk of suffering a brain bleed if they have been involved in a slip and fall accident. Slip and fall accidents are some of the most devastating adverse events that seniors can experience.  These  accidents can result in the kind of personal injuries that not just permanently injure or disable the senior, but also reduce his life span significantly. Slip and fall  accidents, for instance, can result in hip fractures which some studies have linked to an increased risk of fatality in the year following the personal injury.

According to the researchers, their studies find a strong correlation between regular drinking and intracranial hemorrhage after a slip and fall accident. The risk of suffering a brain bleed after a fall doubled in the case of seniors who drank weekly.  In the case of seniors who drank daily, the risks of suffering a brain bleed increased by 2.5 times.

Continue reading
Published on:

by

Minority groups, including blacks and Hispanic Americans, seem to have been disproportionately affected by the increase in fatal car accidents recorded across the country during the pandemic.

According to new studies, black and Hispanic Americans as well as people with lower educational attainment were the most likely to suffer an impact from the increase in auto accidents between 2020 and 2022.  This period of time recorded a significant increase in car accidents with new research from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety stating that as many as 114,000 people were killed in auto accidents between May 2020 and December 2022. This was a staggering 17% jump in the fatality numbers from before the pandemic.

Teens between the ages of 16 and 19 took the top spot in auto accident wrongful deaths.  Overall, young persons between the ages of 20 and 24 also recorded very high increases in car accident numbers during this time.  Male drivers were also much more likely to suffer fatal personal injuries in auto accidents between 2020 and 2022, exceeding estimates by as much as 14%.

Continue reading
Published on:

by

The use of interventions including financial incentives, goals and social competition can significantly help reduce the incidence of distracted driving on our streets.

Distracted driving causes thousands of car accidents in the metro Atlanta region every year.   A new study proves that different interventions could be used to help bring about changes in driver behaviors, resulting in motorists being less likely to reach out for their cell phones while driving.

The study was conducted by an insurance provider and divided more than 1500 participants into 5 groups.  The first group was the control group which only received information about the dangers of using a handheld cell phone while driving.  Group 2 was given a free phone mount, while group 3 was given habit formation tips over a period of several weeks.  Groups 4 and 5 were sent text messages about their performance on handheld cell phone use goals, and were given the chance to win or lose points based on their usage. Participants in group 5 were also given the chance to share in a $2000 prize if they met their goals.

Continue reading
Published on:

by

Distracted driving is now one of the biggest auto accident causes in Georgia with a new study finding that more than 50% of all car accidents in the state involve a driver who was distracted at the wheel.

That information comes from the Governors Office of Highway Safety and the Georgia Department of Public Health’s Crash Outcome Data Evaluation System, which included car accidents that occurred in 2022. The data was is  in the Georgia Traffic Safety Fact Sheet, and  according to the data,  53% of all car accidents in Georgia in that year involved a confirmed or suspected distracted driver.

The  data does not define whether these distractions involved electronic distractions like the use of cell phones while driving.  The term “distractions”  can mean different types of activities while driving including having conversations with passengers, snacking  and drinking, reaching out for things and other types of distracting activities.  Any type of distraction that is manual, physical or cognitive can take a person’s attention away from the task of driving and cause an auto accident.

Continue reading
Published on:

by

Simple design interventions like illuminated crosswalks  can make it easier for motorists  to see pedestrians at  crossings and prevent pedestrian car accidents. A pedestrian car accident often results in severe personal injuries to the pedestrian or his or her wrongful death.

The  issue of pedestrian  safety is one that has been front and center for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as it grapples with an increase in the number of people being killed in car accidents.  Several  studies have found that simple improvements to design and  infrastructure can help prevent many of these accidents.

Many  of these interventions are focused on making pedestrians more visible to drivers.  Very often, motorists fail to notice motorists with devastating consequences. A new study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety finds that something as simple as illuminated crosswalks can make motorists more visible and help reduce the chance of pedestrian car accidents.

Continue reading
Published on:

by

Spinal cord personal injuries are some of the most devastating personal injuries that can occur in a car accident.  New research finds that MRI scans which are typically used to guide surgeries in spinal cord injury patients, can also be used to make better assessments of a patient’s potential recovery.

A spinal cord injury occurs when there is a jolt or a blow to the spinal cord resulting in injury to the cord itself. The consequences are often catastrophic. Patients may be left with partial or complete paralysis, and may be unable to walk or use their limbs effectively.  Rehabilitation may be a slow process.  Often,  MRI scans are used  during treatment in order to guide surgical options as well as assess the amount of damage.  However, researchers recently found that they could very accurately predict recovery for spinal cord injury patients using these same MRI scans. They found that information from MRI scans helped to predict the recovery potential for patients based on the tissue remaining around the affected area.  The  greater the amount of tissue left, the higher the chances of recovery.

According to the researchers, these are very important findings because they show that MRI scans can be used to guide and inform rehabilitation and therapy options after a spinal cord personal injury.  They  can help doctors provide better counseling to patients about their lives after spinal cord injury, and how they can expect their lives to change after the injury.

Continue reading
Published on:

by

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, car accidents caused directly by drivers who were drowsy at the wheel caused 693 wrongful deaths in 2022.

Drowsiness  due to lack of sleep could be because of overwork,  a new baby,  stress,  or a hectic social life.   Whatever  the reason, the consequence is fewer  hours of sleep.  Sleep advocacy groups,  including the National Sleep Foundation, recommend 8 hours of sleep for the average American adult.    Unfortunately,  far too many drivers are getting less sleep than the recommended amount, which means that many of them are driving at less than optimum levels of wakefulness and alertness in the morning.

Even getting one hour less sleep a night can affect a person’s ability to drive safely.  Drowsiness can mean irritability which, in turn, can affect your judgment and reasoning behind the wheel.  It can also mean an inability to pay attention to visual cues on the road, and failure to respond appropriately to stop signs.  It can mean getting lost while driving the wrong way, or driving at high speeds.

Continue reading
Contact Information
945 East Paces Ferry Rd # 2230
Atlanta, GA 30326
Phone: (404) 460-0101 Fax: (404) 240-0401 Toll Free: (888) 426-2100
508 E Howard Ave
Decatur, GA 30030
Phone: (404) 460-0101

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Please do not include any confidential or sensitive information in a contact form, text message, or voicemail. The contact form sends information by non-encrypted email, which is not secure. Submitting a contact form, sending a text message, making a phone call, or leaving a voicemail does not create an attorney-client relationship.

Copyright © 2016 – 2024, Katz Personal Injury Lawyers
JUSTIA Law Firm Blog Design